London's best bookshops

While the ongoing demise of London's bookshops at the hands of digital retailers is an undoubted tragedy, the rise of online competition at least has one advantage. It's forced the city's independent booksellers to up their game, and those who have survived have done so thanks to the sort of literary niches, characterful service or café-style shopping experiences you simply don't get on the web. Below is our guide to the best bookshops in central, north, east, south and west London.

Central

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East

South

West

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Best bookshops in central London

This shop, described by one reader as ‘a hub for London’s occult world, essential to the practising magus, pagan, shaman and witch’, has been around since 1922.Atlantis Bookshop, 49a Museum St, WC1(020 7405 2120/www.theatlantisbookshop.com) Holborn tube. Open Mon-Sat 10.30am-6pm

‘If you can’t make it to Paris to stock up on those lovely Gallimard livres de poche, then this is the next best thing. They don’t just sell French books: all the major European languages are stocked.’ The European Bookshop, 5 Warwick St, W1 (020 7734 5259/www.eurobooks.co.uk) Piccadilly Circus tube. Open Mon-Sat 9.30am-6pm.

If the old Foyles was a bookish uncle in a soup-stained cardigan, the new Foyles is a hip teenage cousin: ahead of the curve where apps and indie cinema are concerned, but sporting a pair of off-puttingly flash trainers. Foyles has always been one of those shops which trade partly on sentiment, with its labyrinthine layout, oddball-friendly café and loyal staff: Giles, its longest serving, has clocked up an impressive half-century on the payroll.

Best bookshops in north London

Children's Bookshop

Not only good for tots getting to grips with their ABC, this Muswell Hill treasure is a treat for those difficult ‘young adults’.Children’s Bookshop, 29 Fortis Green Rd, N10 (020 8444 5500) Highgate tube. Open Mon-Sat 9.15am-5.45pm, Sun 11am-4pm.

With its ‘windows arranged so beautifully’ and a ‘great kids’ section’ this is a solid all-rounder that also holds plenty of readings and events. (Margaret Atwood has appeared in the past.) Owl Books, 209 Kentish Town Rd, NW5 (020 7485 7793) Kentish Town tube/rail. Open Mon-Sat 9.30am-6pm, Sun 12noon-4.30pm.

This local is full of covetable novels. As one fan says, ‘I always seem to see a book I want to read when browsing.’Stoke Newington Bookshop, 159 Stoke Newington High St, N16 (020 7249 2808//www.stokenewingtonbookshop.co.uk). Open Mon-Sat 9:30am-6pm, Sunday 11am-5pm

The outdoor seating makes this the perfect place for a coffee-fuelled browse on sunny days. Inside, there’s an emphasis on art, architecture, design and photography books. Chess and backgammon sets are also availablefor those who like to linger.Review, 131 Bellenden Rd, SE15 (020 7639 7400/www.reviewbookshop.co.uk) Peckham Rye rail. Open Tues-Sun 10am-7pm.

Village Books

The personal touch from owners Hazel Broadfoot and Julian Toland has long been popular in Dulwich Village. Now there’s a sister shop near Wandsworth Common where Beckett’s Bookshop used to be (it retains the name for now).The Bookshop, 1d Calton Avenue, SE21 (020 8693 2808) North Dulwich rail. Open Mon-Sat 9am-5.30pm, Sun 11am-5pm.

‘John Sandoe’s has a large reputation for such a rickety shop, which is crammed with roughly 25,000 titles sold by well-informed people who care. Just off the King’s Road, it’s one of the few idiosyncratic shops left in the area.’

This tiny publishing house-cum-lovely bookshop has breathed new life into 78 neglected interwar fiction titles, and repackaged them in Persephone's trademark dove-grey covers, each with its own distinct fabric-inspired endpapers.

Comments

Can anyone tell me a good book shop in London for children´s books, fiction and facts and also encyclopedia of various kinds? Is there a low budget store of books somewhere? I teach German kids English and want them to look at pictures and text,
Thank you for your help

Stansfield is publishing THE BRUNELS Engineers Extraordinaire, A celebration in verse on 21 JAN 2013. This well researched book will appeal to anyone interested in The Industrial Revolution and its main players....

new book shop opened in wealdstone high street in the inshops centre selling new and second hand books from the 18th century to today and everything inbetween including foriegn language, education, religion as well as childresn toyas and crafts

I remember buying discounted books from a shop where I got out from the tube station (can it be Piccadily Circus) and across the street was a H&M shop.
I remember the shop being a book publisher association or sth. like that. I haven' been in London for years now and will be there in June if yu know the place , I would appreciate if you mentioned it here.
Thanks.

I second Clerkenwell Tales & Victoria Park Books, but am most surprised to see Artwords missing from the East list. Great Art, Fashion & Design specialists, run by friendly owner Ben. On Rivington St and new larger Broadway Market branch.

Also, I have just learned that Skoob Books â€” missing from your little roundup â€” you named this year as "Best Bookshop" in London. At the head of this article you describe yourselves as "Time Out Consume [no 'r'] Editors". Makes me wonder what you've been consuming!

Concrete Hermit in Shoreditch, on Club Row has a cool selection of illustration, design and photography titles, as well as a selection of art based zines. They have some nice shows in their little gallery.....

Only just found this artcle - Can't believe Clapham Books isn't on your list - great selection of the classic the popular and the quirky - next day ordering friendly knowledgeable staff and fab author events - South London's best book shop !!!!120 Clapham High St sw4 7uh - easy to find btwn Clapham Common and Clapham North tubes

I discovered new russian-language bookshop in Central London that has a huge range of both fiction and non-fiction Russian books. It's my favourite Russian bookshop in London:
23 Goodge Street
London
W1T 2PL
www.booksinrussian.co.uk

Clerkenwell Tales is a great new bookshop just opened on Exmouth market. Pete, the owner, is lovely and really helpful and he has stocked the shop with lots of lovely books. It's small and beautifully presented and has a strong quirky mix of Fashion, photography and contemporary fiction and a great Travel Lit section. My new favourite bookshop in London!
www.clerkenwell-tales.co.uk
30 Exmouth Market
Clerkenwell
EC1R 4QE

If you're a bargain hunter there's a great second hand bookshop on Bell Street in Marylebone. I picked up Updike's Rabbit Redux the other day for 50p and the rough guide to Vietnam for Â£1.50. Cheaper than most charity shops; heaven knows how they make a living.

Goldsboro books (7 Cecil Court WC2N 4EZ) should definitely be on this list.
Although situated in the heart of the West End, It is a peaceful retreat from all the hub.
Always friendly courteous staff, which are knowledgeable and passionate about the books they sell.
Enabling you to purchase a signed first, with many at publishers pricing!
Goldsboro boasts a generous loyalty scheme (with real rewards, unlike Waterstones!!) and an amazing book of the month club with a further 10% off books, for members.
All in all a brilliant find!

'Um, Quinto's 2nd hand bookshop near British Museum is something to be seen...' someone remarked. It was indeed, but I'm afraid it's no longer there. I closed down more than a year ago. The branch on Charing Cross Road has just been beautifully refurbished though. Worth a visit!

The Big Green Bookshop in Wood Green is becoming something of a sensation in North London. Well worth a visit, and well worth checking out their blog Open a Bookshop, What Could Possibly Go Wrong. I love it.

Why isn't The Book Box in Hackney on the list?! A really lovely shop with an excellent range of children and adults books. And they organise author events and book groups. My first choice!
53 Chatsworth Road
Claption
London
E5 0LH
www.bookboxonline.co.uk

the comment below is maybe a bit harsh, but have to say I've only found the staff at Koenig Books on the Charing Cross Road to be really unhelpful. Now Shipley Art Booksellers has gone, I find the best art books are at Donlon Books in the East End.

I was surprised that Motor Books, London's only motoring, railway, military and aviation specialist bookshop didn't get a mention in your list The shop moved to Cecil Court in 2007 after celebrating its 50th anniversary in nearby St Martins Court and have been there for a year and a half. Cecil Court is worth the trip alone if you really like independent bookshops. Motor Books address is 13-15 Cecil Court and the nearest tube is Leicester Square.

A number of other places surely deserve a mention: West End Lane Books in West Hampstead has a finely-judged selection of fiction and non-fiction, has knowledgeable staff and is well laid-out. Judd Books on Marchmont Street, WC1N, has two floors of new and secondhand and is worth checking out, as is the cavernous Skoob Books, just round the corner near the Brunswick Centre.

Great new shop has just opened in Marylebone with some beautiful art books. Address is:
Other Criteria, 14 Hinde Street, W1U 3BG
Other Criteria started as a web based company and now has two shops, the first is on New Bond Street specialising in editions. Books by Damien Hirst, Michael Joo, Paul Fryer etc. It also sells t-shirts, posters and editions.

If you're into philosophy and unexpected titles, The Swedenborg Society Bookshop on Bloomsbury Way (between New Oxford St and Holborn) is a great find: a publishing house since 1810, it specialises in titles by the Swedish philosopher and mystic, Emanuel Swedenborg, and publishes books of essays discussing his ideas. Also lots of books about William Blake, works by Yeats, Dostoyevsky, Baudelaire who were all inspired by his radical philosophy.

Isn't Housmans at Kings Cross on the list?
Besides being one of the last political/radical bookshops left in London, it's full of strange stuff you'd almost never be able to browse through anywhere else.
And its hundreds of radical magazines must be the widest range anywhere.

I'm surprised you haven't included Gay's The Word in your list. This iconic bookstore celebrates its 30th anniversary this year and stocks a fantastic range of books - history, academic, queer & gender studies, fiction, poetry, transgender etc. Check it out at 66 Marchmont Street and discover why so many lesbian and gay tourists to London make it their first port of call.

slightly belated...but best bet for academic remainders and second hand is the Blackwell's on the corner of Mallet Street in the University quarter. They have a very good range (check upsatirs as well as the racks by the stairwell).